After Theater of Reconciliation, the second edition of the discussion series organized by Max Czollek is dedicated to the issue of Overcoming the Present. The focus lies on events and phenomena of the present and the question of how the past reflects in them. Max Czollek meets people who seek to understand many of the current crises and find answers to them: How to deal with the climate crisis, the expanding wars, the continuity of right-wing politics and violence? How to cope with feelings of grief, despair, and anger? What role does civil society play in dealing with conflicts? And how stressable are alliances for a collaboration in exceptional situations?

Naomi Lubrich is the director of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland. She studied literature and art in New York and Berlin, specializing in Jewish studies and costume history. Lubrich has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1996–1998) and the Jewish Museum Berlin (1999–2015). Her exhibitions and books include Jüdische Schweiz. 50 Objekte erzählen Geschichte (2018) and Pässe, Profiteure, Polizei. Ein Schweizer Kriegsgeheimnis, Museum Basel, 2019–2021.